Airfares hit $1,000 as British tourists rush to leave Portugal

Bloomberg

UK tourists scrambled to return from Portugal before a quarantine requirement kicks in on Tuesday, driving up ticket prices as travellers rearranged flights ahead of the deadline.
A three-hour British Airways flight from Faro, in the popular Algarve region, to London City airport on Monday night
costs $1,000, according to Skyscanner. The following day, when passengers will be subject to 10 days of self-isolation on arrival, the airline is offering flights to Heathrow for 80% less.
UK authorities caught airlines and holidaymakers by surprise with a decision to remove Portugal from the green list of countries where people can easily travel. The abrupt move echoes the disruption that took hold last summer, when sudden changes to quarantine rules forced vacationers to rush home at short notice. Now carriers are hastily rearranging schedules and contemplating another high season lost to the pandemic.
“The government has torn up its own rule book and ignored the science, throwing peoples’ plans into chaos,” said EasyJet Plc CEO Johan Lundgren. “This decision essentially cuts the UK off from the rest of the world.”
Holidaymakers set to travel to Portugal in coming days are seeing the prospect of some time in the sun evaporate. Charlie Turner, 28, from the Wirral near Liverpool was due to fly with his aunt from Birmingham to Faro on June 10 for a long weekend. She is a carer for ill family members and unable to quarantine on return. They are seeking a refund. “The restrictions and quarantine make it near impossible to take short-term trips — it’s just not feasible,” he said.
Less than a month ago, airlines rushed to add seats to Portugal when it became the only major sun-spot green-listed in the UK’s traffic-light system that began on May 17. The industry expected the review to produce an expansion of the list, with Spain’s Balearic islands and Malta potential inclusions.
But no countries were added to the green list and Portugal is now going amber, causing disruption to the many Britons who were relying on the setup to bring certainty to summer travel plans. Many Brits own holiday or retirement homes in Portugal.
Travellers don’t have an automatic right to a refund if a country moves down the UK’s traffic-light list, according to consumer magazine Which? travel. They can rebook, but the millions of holidays rescheduled from earlier in the pandemic mean the new dates are often more expensive, said editor Rory Boland.
EasyJet is focused on gearing up its fleet within the EU, it said, where the bloc’s reopening is proceeding in an urgent manner.